Archive for the ‘Ryo’ Category

Another series of pointless internationals have just been completed and thankfully, we won’t be hearing of RvP, Theo and Jack Wilshire returning from international duty injured. They wouldn’t have played anyway but we must take the negatives from the postives.

Of those players that are likely to appear in the starting line-up for Saturdays game we can hope that Gervinho, Ramsay, Nasri, Sagna, Szczesny, Djourou and Arshavin return safe and sound.

Initial reports say Gervinho was inspring as the Ivorians took on Israel and from what’s been seen so far he looks to be just the player to provide that cutting edge on the edge of the penalty box that was so lacking against teams that held against our attacking line last season.

Continuing on the optimisim of new signings, it was confirmed yesterday that a new signing of sorts was finalised. It’s only taken a number of months and a loan period to Feyenord but Ryo Miyaichi can now ply his trade in the red and white of Arsenal. That’s two first team players who were unavailable last season but are now – these surely cannot be counted as new signings………

It will be asking of lot of the 18 year old boy to expect an immediate impact in the Premiership but I fear that time is not on the side of this squad given that we may still be seeing the departures of both Nasri and Cesc in the near future. In recent time the Arsenal teams were renowned for having a young average age but it seems that this is getting lower and lower. Imagine how the squad average will drop as and when Almunia leaves!

So with the potential of our main midfield creativity about to depart, who could potentially fill the void that will be left? I would like to see Arshavin tried in that role – we know that his time as a lone striker wasn’t the most dazzling period of his career and he as often struck a forelorn figure out on the wings. However, what I feel Arshavin needs in order to keep going is the ball at his feet and where better to be than in the centre of midfield. This was where he was at his inspriational best when playing for Russia is Euro 2008 and when Zenit triumphed in the UEFA cup. Maybe this season is the time to change things around a bit – for me though this should have been tried in pre-season and there was little evidence of that.

We should also be cautious that we find ourselves with another midfielder publicly opening their heart as a fan of Barcelona. Maybe we should include something in our scouting process to try and screen out new signings who have the potential desire to play for the Catalans otherwise Arsenal just become a stepping stone.

On a final note, hats off to Gunnerblog for his Silent Stan video. A marvellous parody and whilst I agree with some sentiments that Arsene Wenger is at risk of turning into his own caricature, it would be sad to see Arsene forced out by fan pressure. It would certainly be nice be able to stand back in May with some silverware to cheer about – that’s the challenege Arsene, prove the fans wrong. Let the results do the talking, that’s was proves that the team has inner stength – the ability to win games when it matters.